Other Criteria have invited a selection of their artists to name a single book that has influenced their work, shaped their thinking or encouraged them to create.

Rachel Howard said "Anne Sexton's poems are so raw and harsh, the first time I read them almost 20 years ago I was overwhelmed by her honesty and still am today. Her candidness sometimes makes me recoil, she beautifully puts into words the pain of living, the beauty of tragedy. Her titles are wonderful: The Death Notebooks, The Awful Rowing Toward God, To Bedlam and Part Way Back to name a few."

Anne Sexton had been working on The Death Notebooks for several years and had not originally planned to publish any of these poems during her lifetime. The book contains poems and themes exploring the subjects of death and despair. It is a close investigation of the big questions in life by a woman who managed to translate her fears and struggles into Pulitzer Prize winning poetry.

Rachel Howard

Howard was born in County Durham and graduated from Goldsmiths College, London, in 1991. She was awarded the Princes Trust Award in 1992 to support her art practice, was shortlisted for the Jerwood Drawing Prize in 2004 and received the British Council Award in 2008. Recent solo exhibitions include: Northern Echo, Blain|Southern, London (2014); FolieàDeux, Blain|Southern, London (2011); Repetition is Truth, Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Donna Regina, Naples (2011);Still Life / Still Here, Rachel Howard, New Paintings, Sala Pelaires, Palma de Mallorca (2011); Human Shrapnel – oil drawings on paper, Other Criteria, London (2010); Der Wald, Haunch of Venison, Zurich (2009);Rachel Howard: invited by Philippa van Loon, Museum van Loon, Amsterdam (2008); How to Disappear Completely, Haunch of Venison, London (2008); and Rachel Howard – New Paintings, Gagosian Gallery, Los Angeles (2007).

Howard’s work can be found in a variety of public and private collections, amongst others: Ackland Art Museum, North Carolina; Museum van Loon, Amsterdam; David Roberts Foundation, London; Goss-Michael Foundation, Dallas; CCA Andratx, Spain; Olbricht Collection, Berlin; and the Tate Archive and the Murderme, Hiscox and Jerwood collections, London.